How did Chelsea manage to beat Manchester City?

Fernando Torres celebrates scoring the winner against Manchester City

Chelsea’s Premier League victory against Manchester City was seen as a good win for the Blues. Both teams are potential title rivals and the fact that Chelsea were able to beat City gives them an edge in the long run. There were several positives for Jose Mourinho’s men to take from this game. There were also a couple of things Mourinho might have to work on in order to ensure more stability as the season goes along. However, the fact that they got three points is all that matters for the moment.

Let’s take a look at 5 factors that led to Chelsea’s win:

1) Came with a game-plan – Mourinho’s game plan was obvious from the get-go: let City dominate possession, as they are a team who like to attack the opposition, and sit back and wait for them to make a mistake. It isn’t the most ideal way to approach a home game but the plan worked well enough. City had the lion’s share of possession during the match yet were unable to create too many clear-cut chances and as a result ended up suffering. Mourinho places an emphasis on results over pretty football; his approach worked a treat, and City were left wondering how they lost.

2) Executed the game plan – It’s one thing to have a game-plan; it’s quite another thing to execute it properly. Playing on the counter-attack requires plenty of discipline from the defence and everyone put in a shift, although Gary Cahill was guilty of not checking Aguero’s run when the Argentine equalised for them. That aside, everyone else did their job to perfection and City weren’t able to penetrate Chelsea’s defensive line on too many occasions. Mourinho’s game-plan was implemented to the letter by Chelsea’s players.

3) Pellegrini got his tactics wrong – Pellegrini’s main tactical switch was to play Yaya Toure behind Aguero and use Javi Garcia and Fernandinho in midfield. The plan made sense in theory; bully Chelsea’s midfield with two physical players while using Yaya’s ability and strength in a more advanced area. However, the plan didn’t work. Yaya’s main strength is running from deep and he was unable to use it. He was reduced to taking shots from distance. Neither Fernandinho nor Garcia (who has been poor for City since last season) covered themselves in glory either, getting outwitted by Chelsea’s attacking line.

4) Torres presented himself as an attacking option – Too often Fernando Torres goes AWOL during games; he doesn’t make attacking runs and chooses instead to drop deep and play more as an attacking midfielder. This wasn’t the case against City; he looked to make attacking runs off the ball and even took on his defender on a number of occasions. He beat Gael Clichy en route to setting up Schurrle’s goal and even made Zabaleta and Demichelis look ordinary at times. The fact that Chelsea’s #9 actually put in a shift made the team look even more dangerous, and no one can say he didn’t deserve his goal (bizarre as it was).

5) Joe Hart‘s howler – Many would argue this was the main reason Chelsea won the match! A clearance/long pass from Willian landed comfortably behind Nastasic, who looked to play it safe and head the ball back to his ‘keeper. However, he didn’t realise that Hart had (for reasons best known to him) charged a mile off his line and ended up heading the ball over him, leaving Torres with the simple job of tapping the ball into an empty net. Hart’s form has been questionable all season and he didn’t exactly help himself with this little misttake. Of all the howlers he’s made this season (8 of them in total), this definitely has to be the worst of them.